Awanuiarangi’s Waitangi Deal Steven Joyce and Pita Sharples have signed a deal deed of settlement with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangithat recognises the unique contribution it makes to tertiary education, and provides the wānanga with $14.5m of funding to develop its Whakatāne campus. It is the last of the 3 wananga to settle, after a Waitangi Truibunal report in 1999.

Wine Events Regular readers will know I never go past a wine story and the University of Auckland have just hosted the first Upper North Island Wine Challenge. I remember a great wine experience in Kaikohe, actually – on the edge of town I saw a wine sign and drove down the drive to a barn at the back of the house where a Croatian immigrant (about 70) was selling cabernet sauvignon at $10 a bottle. The wine was a bit rough but perfectly drinkable and a case soon found its way into the car. What I loved was that there was no branding, no flash landscaping, just a small block and the guy liked making wine. Getting back to wine awards, EIT has hosted the 10th Hawkes Bay awards.

Prison Training Up Pita Sharples and Judith Collins have made a very positive announcement. In the 10 months to July 2010 the number of prisoners in employment and job training increased 9 percent (from 4415 to 4791). More than half the prison population was in some form of employment or training during the 2009/10 year%. Nice to see some good news in the justice area.

Toneeee’s Tyrrrrrre Servisssssss… is a great jingle and UCOL has helped to train the company’s staff (well, 10 people, for a two day course, which hardly merits a media release about industry responsiveness in my view).